In addition to resolving complaints, OCR initiates compliance reviews
and takes other proactive steps to focus on specific compliance problems that
are particularly acute or national in scope. In general, targeted compliance
reviews and proactive initiatives maximize the impact of OCR's resources and
complement the complaint resolution process. These strategic activities benefit
large numbers of students through policy or program changes by recipients designed
to ensure compliance with the civil rights laws.

OCR initiated 53 compliance reviews in FY 2004 and brought 29 reviews to
successful resolution, some of which had been started in previous years. Compliance
review sites are selected based on various sources of information, including
information provided by parents, education groups, media, community organizations,
the public and, in certain circumstances, survey data to the extent it is supported
by other sources of information.

More than half of the compliance reviews initiated in FY 2004 (28) involved
a nationwide enforcement initiative to eliminate barriers to access for postsecondary
students with disabilities. Areas of focus for these compliance reviews at
both public and private postsecondary institutions included (but were not limited
to) accessibility to residence halls, classrooms and academic buildings, and
parking facilities. OCR also continued its efforts to review school districts'
misidentification of minority and English language learner students in special
education.

Of the 29 compliance reviews closed in FY 2004, 15 involved reviews of state
departments of education to ensure that Title IX coordinators were designated
and trained and that Title IX nondiscrimination policies and other information
were published in accordance with regulations.

Figure 3 shows the number of reviews initiated and resolved by compliance issue.

OCR Compliance Reviews by Issue
FY2004

Compliance Issue

Initiated

Resolved*

Ability Grouping

0

1

Accessibility

28

0

Admission to Vocational Education Programs (Title IX)

0

2

High Stakes Testing (Section 504)

1

0

Limited English Proficient Students and Special Education/Services for
Students with Limited English Proficiency

8

3

Minorities and Special Education

15

9

Procedural Requirements (Title IX)

0

15

Racial Harassment/Sexual Harassment

1

2

* Includes compliance reviews carried over from previous years.
Also, several reviews contain more than one compliance issue.Figure
3